~ …give that you may live, for to withhold is to perish. (Adapted from Kahlil Gibran)

SuperOldster @diben

In my youth, an oldster said to me, “Miguel, you’re moving too fast for me! How do you keep up with all this stuff?” As I step over the threshold of middle age, which was unimaginable back in my 20s, I realize now the price of quick movement for the educators whom I exhorted to stay after-school.

Image Source: http://goo.gl/9E2N9H

The first clue I had was when I came home one day and sat on the couch…and didn’t wake up until midnight. The second clue was when I woke up one morning and realized that the best part of my day was over. But the clincher was when I started a morning cup of coffee to get me going (I’d never drunk coffee in my life) in the morning, and another in the evening to keep me moving until 9:00PM.

Fortunately, I encounter my younger self when I go online, running across projects and works I created some time ago. How did I ever have the energy to do that? It’s for these reasons that I’m grateful when a colleague like Diana Benner, 2014 TCEA Technology Administrator of the Year, shares something like the following. I realize that one of the most profound gifts a colleague can share is an acknowledgement of some sort, helping an oldster remember what impact a previous self had on them: